There was a time in days gone by when an accusation of sexual impropriety would be enough to end the career of a prominent politician. Just ask Gary Hart, who ended his 1988 presidential campaign after photos emerged of the married U.S. senator frolicking on a boat, famously called Monkey Business, with a young woman named Donna Rice.

In 1992 when then Gov. Bill Clinton ran for president, stories began to emerge about his pattern of infidelity and even sexual assault. An aide to Clinton famously referred to them as “bimbo eruptions.” And his wife Hillary stood by him. Many Democrats and even the leaders of women’s rights organizations tried to separate the professional from the personal and say that one’s personal life had no bearing on their professional life and that Clinton’s record of advocating for women’s rights should be the real focus. And with that, we elected someone who was, at best, a serial philanderer (Google Gennifer Flowers) and, at worst, a rapist (Google Juanita Broaddrick).

Although Democrats prefer to ignore reality, this paved the way for Donald Trump. When the Access Hollywood tape emerged of him bragging about grabbing women in their private parts and women came forward with allegations of sexual assault against Trump, Republicans rallied around Trump with a collective “what about-ism” that we had never witnessed before. “But what about Bill Clinton? He did the same thing!” and “What about Hillary? She attacked Bill’s victims and defended Bill!” Trump and his Svengali, Steve Bannon, even paraded Bill’s victims into the hall for the next presidential debate. And with that, we elected someone who, at best, engages in vile, “locker room talk” about women he encounters in professional settings and, at worst, was himself guilty of sexual assault.

But Roy Moore is a whole new kind of low for American politics. Read More